Ben Ryder

Adapt, shrink or die: the global crisis in humanitarian aid [FREE TO READ] The UN’s outgoing High Commissioner for Refugees on the west’s retreat in Sudan, the folly of abandoning state-building and ‘necessary anger’

Despite the focus on small boats, most refugees stay in poor countries.

I went to Sudan, where nearly 1/3 of the population has left their homes, to see how the UN is coping with Trump's cuts and the west's retreat.

Sudan is a brutal, forgotten war. Please do read: as.ft.com/r/7db76b9a-8...

Government accused of 'suppressing' report warning of catastrophic climate risks The Times reports unabridged version of security services' analysis sets out 'reasonable worst case scenario' where climate impacts trigger mass migration and conflict

Quick thread on how it is shocking the government has supressed this report, but it is equally shocking that anyone should be surprised by its contents.

www.businessgreen.com/news/4524657...

The cure for misinformation is not more information or smarter news consumers Political scientist Samuel Bagg explains why social identity is at the root of the misinformation crisis -- which calls for something deeper than factchecking.

ICYMI: I sat down with political scientist @samuel-bagg.bsky.social to discuss the crisis in our information environment and its roots in social identity.

YouTube video by ClimateAdam Why the Climate Crisis is a Health Crisis

As our leaders struggle to build any meaningful momentum at COP21, a reminder:

The Climate Crisis *IS* a Health Crisis

youtu.be/ClZGMeiFT6w

In Arizona, a fight against a deadly fungus is under threat from Trump’s health policies What one Arizona doctor’s quest to stop valley fever says about America’s preparedness for climate-driven disease.

In Arizona, a fight against a deadly fungus is under threat from Trump’s health policies.

What one doctor’s quest to stop valley fever says about America’s preparedness for climate-driven disease.

grist.org/health/valle...

#Arizona #AZ #Health #Fever #PublicHealth

🚨 JUST PUBLISHED 🚨

⚠️ The 2025 @lancetcountdown.bsky.social report reveals climate change inaction is costing lives and livelihoods, and harming the economy.

❤️‍🩹 Protecting people’s health demands all hands on deck.

Read more: www.lancetcountdown.org/2025-report/ #LancetClimate25

Rising heat kills one person a minute worldwide, major report reveals Biggest analysis of its kind finds millions are dying each year because of failure to tackle climate crisis

Rising heat killing one person a minute worldwide, major climate report reveals

- The biggest analysis yet finds millions are dying each year due to the failure to tackle global heating

@lancetcountdown.bsky.social
#climatecrisis
Story by me
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

4/ But we still need to recognise that:
- Different worldviews can clash in the planning process and make adaptation fail
- We need to call out non-critical frameworks and approaches to researching and implementing adaptation
- People who work on adaptation need to take a broader perspective
/FIN

3/ And research now largely acknowledges that:
- adaptation is not about climate change but about rethinking development/planning
- we need an intersectional, decolonised approach
- adaptation itself is an imposed concept that can also serve to remove people's agency, assets, and integrity...

2/ Adaptation research and practice can no longer be described as the black sheep of climate change because we now have a solid 15 years of action. However:
- much of it is still very far from being effective
- there is still a huge need for adaptation everywhere
- there is a massive lack of funding

Americans are dying from extreme heat. Autopsy reports don’t show the full story Official reports are likely to overlook heat’s role in a death. As US temperatures rise, experts say the true toll needs to be counted

Americans are dying from extreme heat

Examination of 100s of autopsy reports reveals tragic stories

They show lives cut short in ordinary, preventable ways

Exceptional reporting by my colleague @ninalakhani.bsky.social

#climatcrisis
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

National Emergency Briefing on climate & nature An unfiltered assessment of the latest threats arising from the climate & nature crisis to an invite-only audience. Westminster Central Hall, 27 November. Has your MP confirmed yet?

I urge all policymakers to attend this vital briefing on the climate & nature crisis, which brings the latest science from leading experts straight to the people in power. I’d like to see one in every country, & the organizers are open to sharing the model. More info: www.nebriefing.org

New comment in Nature climate change published this week on the dangers of adaptation projects by Meg Mills-Novoa, Kim Anh Thomas and Michael Mikulewicz (three scholars whose work you should follow!)

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A prudent planetary limit for geologic carbon storage - Nature A risk-based, spatially explicit analysis of carbon storage in sedimentary basins establishes a prudent planetary limit of around 1,460 Gt of geological carbon storage, which requires making explicit ...

New paper in Nature finds that global geologic CO2 storage potential is ~90% lower than previously believed. Many candidate sites could leak CO2 back into the air or into groundwater, undermining climate mitigation efficacy or putting nearby human health at risk.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

NEW: The first evidence of a solar take-off in Africa☀️✈️

x33 rise in Algeria solar panel imports in the 12 mths to June 2025, compared to previous 12 mths.
x8 in Zambia
x7 in Botswana
x6 in Sudan
x3 in each of Liberia, DRC, Benin, Angola, Ethiopia

🧵

WHO warns of risks of extreme heat in the workplace Workers, employers and governments need to adapt to a more extreme climate, the organisation says.

Workers globally face increasing health risks as extreme temperatures become more common, and that includes the UK 🥵 We need the government to produce effective adaptations for the sake of everyone.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ylwxl5n01o

The projections of the amount of heating we're seeing have been spot on. But all the projections of the *impacts* of that warming have been way, way lowballed. Let's not do that any more.

There is growing evidence that climate change can have direct and indirect effects on mental health. This is especially true for extreme heat.

🌡️ The literature shows a clear relationship between increased temperatures and number of suicides and severe distress following extreme weather events🧵

To save lives in heatwaves, focus on how human bodies work Strategies for heat-health preparedness should concentrate on cooling people, not just the air.

Extreme heat kills - yet most heatwave warnings are based on air temperature alone, not how our bodies actually respond.

Fantastic Nature piece from Ollie Jay and his team in Sydney calling for physiology based heat alerts to protect those most at risk.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Delighted to have the opportunity to engage with @physoc.bsky.social at #GCHS2025
In the picture, my co-author @shourodasgupta.bsky.social, presenting our work on heat and the labourforce

Plenty of scope for better adaptation and worker protection

www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminst...

1/5. 📢RAPID REACTION EVENT 📢: Yesterday the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ⚖️ delivered a milestone advisory opinion clarifying the obligations of states in respect to #ClimateChange. 🥳 Find out what this means and what comes next! 🤓

@ciel.org @wy4cj.bsky.social

#ICJAO “The consequences of climate change are severe and far-reaching. They affect both natural ecosystems and human populations. These consequences underscore the urgent and existential threat posed by climate change,” said Iwasawa Yuji, President of the ICJ.

earth.org/icj-advisory...

Extreme weather misinformation 'putting lives at risk,' study warns Major social media platforms are enabling and profiting from misinformation around extreme weather events, endangering lives and impeding emergency response efforts, a research group said Tuesday.

🚨 NEW: X, Meta & YouTube are letting misleading claims about extreme weather events - like the LA wildfires & Hurricane Helene - spread unchecked.

We found that almost all of the 300 viral misleading posts we studied don’t carry fact-checks, disrupting disaster response & putting lives at risk 🧵

So disappointing. Yes, we need to ramp up adaptation, but it's wildly premature to say "it's too late" and give up on decarbonization just because we didn't avoid climate impacts altogether.

A warmer world - with all its challenges - still deserves our love, and will always be worth fighting for.

Do not miss this paper! Absolutely critical for an update on how we think about adaptation to climate change now.

New paper out in Global Environmental Change - And I’m genuinely so thrilled to see this one published!! 🍾
@martaolazabal.bsky.social @imagineadapt.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Assessing the climate and health impacts of energy consumption in European Union countries - IOPscienceSearch Assessing the climate and health impacts of energy consumption in European Union countries, Pei, Gen, Buonocore, Jonathan J, Salimifard, Parichehr, Sousa, Brian, Ferguson, Lauren, Allen, Joseph G

We have a new paper out!! Led by Gen Pei @hsph.harvard.edu and with @joeallenjoe.bsky.social! We find that doing climate interventions in Eastern Europe have ~10x higher health benefits than Western, since building renewables there displaces more coal iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

Born into the Climate Crisis 2. An unprecedented life: Protecting children’s rights in a changing climate | Save the Children’s Resource Centre The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it is a pressing reality that children are facing today. Despite having contributed the least to the climate crisis, the inherent intergenerational injustic...

Will you live an unprecedented life?

In our new paper in @nature.com and accompanying @savethechildren.org report, we detect who will face unprecedented lifetime exposure to climate extremes (🧵) 1/n
Report: resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/bor...
Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...